In 925 games during a span of 105 years, there is something Louisiana Tech has never done: hosted a Southeastern Conference opponent.

The Bulldogs from Ruston, La., will have their first opportunity this afternoon when it hosts Mississippi State at 5:45 p.m. on ESPN2.

Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom is not expecting the fans there to be rolling out a red carpet for their arrival.

"We're going into an environment where we haven't played there historically," Croom said. "Very few of our people have ever played down there so we expect their fans, their players and their coaches to be all excited. I'm sure it's not going to be a very warm reception for us. But we're looking forward to it. This will give us a good test of how we perform on the road right from the beginning of the season."

MSU leads the all-time series at 7-2 but it was Louisiana Tech who won the last meeting in 1996 in Starkville. Today's game will mark the fourth time the two schools have met for a season opener with State holding a 2-1 mark in those contests.

"There is a lot of excitement having an SEC football team coming to Ruston," said Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley. "It's a national TV game and these are the kind of games that we certainly want to be in as a program. I feel like we've had a good camp and we'll see if we're ready to play."